Eureka’s Wild Finish Seals First-Ever Sweep Over Fontbonne
EUREKA – For the first time in program history, the Eureka baseball team is off to a 4-0 start to St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
The Red Devils completed a two-game sweep of Fontbonne on Wednesday with yet another wild, walk-off win.
After holding on to preserve an 8-5 win in a game that was suspended in the fifth inning due to weather on Tuesday, Eureka came from behind in the bottom of the ninth inning to take down the Griffins, 4-3, on Wednesday afternoon at Henry Sand Field.
Down 3-2, Garrett Flaagan (Eagle, Colo./Eagle Valley/Williston State) squeezed a crucial single through the left side of the infield with one out, and Sam Buduris (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community/McKendree) and Mike Dunne (Bartonville, Ill./Limestone/Lincoln Land) drew back-to-back walks with two outs.
That brought up Chase Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) – a walk-off hero against Illinois College just 10 days ago – but this time, the opponents triggered the Red Devils' celebration.
On the first pitch of the at-bat, Fontbonne pitcher Camden Coleman hurled one in the dirt, and it got past the catcher. Flaagan scored as the catcher scrambled to get the ball back to the pitcher at the plate, but the throw was behind Coleman, giving the speedy Buduris plenty of time to turn the corner and record the winning run.
And then, it happened again: the Red Devils frenzied their way around the infield as their opponents walked off in disbelief.
Wednesday's 4-3 victory was Eureka's fourth walk-off win in 10 days. They just keep finding a way.
Ulrich went up the middle with a bases-loaded single to clinch an 8-7 win over Illinois College on March 17. Gabe Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington Community/Mount Mercy) drove home the winning run after EC tied it up in the ninth to lock up a 10-9 win over Blackburn on Saturday in Game 1, and Buduris hammered a three-run walk-off bomb in the 10th inning to seize a sweep over the Beavers in Game 2.
Wednesday was another display of resilience in the face of adversity and dwindling odds – and it clinched the team's first-ever conference sweep over Fontbonne.
It's only the second time EC has beaten the Griffins twice in a season and it's the first time since 2010. The win also gave EC a three-game winning streak against Fontbonne dating back to last spring's 6-0 shutout over the Griffins in the SLIAC Tournament.
The Red Devils (10-7, 4-0 SLIAC) are now on a five-game winning streak and have won six of their past eight games since coming home from its spring break trip.
Eureka's Nick Rulevish (Addieville, Ill./Okawville) improved to 4-0 on the season. The infielder-turned-relief ace came on in the seventh inning and threw three solid innings, giving up one run on one hit.
In the seventh, Rulevish conceded a solo home run to Fontbonne's Ty Kueper and hit the next batter up, but he helped his own cause by catching a liner up the middle and turning a double play to get out of the inning. After that, he retired the next six batters to give EC a chance to pull off another late comeback.
Dunne, the game's starting pitcher, recorded six innings on the mound and only gave up two runs on four hits and three walks.
Hits and runs alike were hard to come by early on. No one scored until Fontbonne scratched one across in the fourth. Eureka responded with a pair of runs in the fifth to take the lead. An RBI single by Buduris put the home team on the board, and after Dunne followed it with a single, Ulrich singled to left to make it 2-1.
Fontbonne tied it in the sixth before taking the lead again with Kueper's solo shot in the seventh.
Eureka finished with nine hits to Fontbonne's five. Ulrich and Joshua Frenden (New Port Richey, Fla./ River Ridge/Philander Smith) each conrtibuted a pair.
Game 1: Eureka 8, Fontbonne 5
The majority of the first game of the doubleheader took place on Tuesday.
The Red Devils were leading 7-4 in the top of the fifth inning when the game was suspended due to rainy weather and wet field conditions. However, the Griffins were in a promising position when the umpires made the call. The visitors had runners on second and third base with no outs.
The action on Thursday began with a Fontbonne's Colby Shivers getting hit on the first pitch of the game, but Eureka pitcher Brayden Williams (Chouteau,Okla./Poteau/Bacone) got Blake Van Beers to ground into a 4-6-3 double play on the next at-bat, which only allowed one run to score, and then came up with another groundout to end the threat.
Flaagan, the shortstop, fielded it up the middle, made the throw in time, and the Red Devils escaped the jam with minimal damage.
After that, the Red Devils got an insurance run in the sixth following a leadoff single by Buduris and an RBI single to center by Dunne. Williams and the Red Devils' defense closed it out from there.
Williams notched his first save of the season, while Dominic Tenayuca (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Jacobs /Lincoln) – Tuesday's starting pitcher – recorded the win to improve to 3-1 on the year. He pitched four innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
Dunne finished 3-for-4 at the plate, with a stolen base and a three-run blast in the first inning that put Eureka on the board on Tuesday. Buduris went 2-for-3 with a double, and Cole Tanner (Bartonville, Ill./ Limestone/Knox) and Ulrich (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) each had a pair of hits as well.
Between the two days of play, Eureka scored eight runs on 11 hits in Game 1.
Up Next
Eureka (10-7, 4-0 SLIAC) will look to continue its undefeated start to SLIAC play with a three-game series at Principia (6-11, 0-3 SLIAC) this weekend. The series will begin with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and conclude with a 12 p.m. game on Saturday.
